Perc is one of modern electronic music’s reference points: an internationally touring DJ and live act, founder of the scene leading Perc Trax label and one of the most respected producers in techno today.
As a performer Perc has taken his sound across the world to such seminal clubs as Berghain, Fabric, Tresor, Fuse, Space Ibiza, Concrete, Unit in Tokyo and to festivals including Awakenings, Glastonbury, DGTL Unpolished, Mayday, Unsound, Verknipt, Dour, Soenda, 10 Days Off, Extrema and many more.
His podcast for Resident Advisor’s scene-leading mix series, his four Boiler Room performances and his 2023 HÖR Berlin set showcase Perc at his very best. Each is a perfect example of his fusion of bleeding edge techno and classic noise and experimental influences.
2024 will be a pivotal year in Perc's career with his new album 'The Cut Off' (his first since 2017) set for release in March. A more dance floor focused album than his previous full length releases 'The Cut Off' will be accompanied by an extensive world tour of live and DJ performances, while his seminal Perc Trax imprint will reach two milestones; it's twentieth year anniversary and it's one hundredth vinyl release.
Review: Seven years after Bitter Music, Perc returns with his fourth studio album. The Cut Off is bookended with the gentle ambience of "Can You Imagine" and the droning "Calcify"- and includes other divergences like the jittery electronic soundtrack on "Heartbeat Popper". "Milk Snatchers Return" also presents another unexpected turn as Perc fuses atmospheric synths with dense tribal drums. But his focus soon turns to this signature sound. The sharp percussive shapes of "Static", which features Sissel Wincent on vocals, is an industrial techno anthem in waiting. And the intense acid of "Cold Snap" and the pounding kicks and heads-down rhythm on "Full Goblin" are reminders that few producers do forward-looking, impactful techno as well as Perc.
Review: Perc teams up with KBK boss Sissel Wincent for one of this year's most memorable techno releases so far. The title track features Perc's typical steel-edged drums and relentless percussion. But what really sets the track apart are Wincent's vocals. Repetitive and hypnotic, they have a nihilistic quality that make "Static" nothing short of compelling. There is an alternate dub version. As its title suggests the main vocal is stripped out. However, Perc retains a fragment of the original vocal and lets it unravel over grainy drums and a pounding, driving rhythm. Even the most purist techno fans are sure to be won over by this release.
Review: Striking a balance between label regulars and new artists, the third instalment of the Forever series provides a great snapshot of the hard techno landscape. On "Junkyard Shift", label debutant Somniac One delivers a coruscating, rave riff-infused take on peak time club music. Exos, who is also releasing material for the first time on Perc Trax, inhabits a similar space with the rolling, abrasive "Warlion". Perc's own contribution, "Rotopod", a collaboration with Million, is an intense affair, with the pair dropping dense kicks and intense percussive builds. Meanwhile EAS, who has put out music before on the label, drops an acid-seared banger that's powered by robust break beats.
Review: Following on from 2020's Fire In Negative EP, Perc delivers another storming release. The title track is a peak-time juggernaut, with pummelling kicks underpinning looped vocals, bursts of white noise and shredded percussive bursts. "Resistor" also deploys the human voice, but this time it's a shrieking human voice set to intense alarm bell riffs, with Perc providing a relentless rhythm as the backing. "240 Volts" is less intense, but only by a slight degree; it sees the UK techno producer fuse chilling synth stabs with the kind of intense, pounding kicks that were last heard on Jeff Mills' X-101 release.
Review: Perc's Tracks Of... has become the unofficial annual state of the hard techno nation synopsis, and 2020 is no different. It features label favourites such as AnD, Manni Dee and Scalameriya, who contribute linear, driving tracks (Dee's "The Wolves" and "Exploit Me, I'm Yours"), crunchy industrial bangers ( Scalameriya's intense "Plothole") and searing acid workouts (AnD's "Morning Sesh").
But this year's edition also welcomes newer names to the stable such as Ghost in the Machine and Tymon, who impress with the visceral "Breaking the Seal" and the broken beat "Woodman" respectively. The compilation also collects tracks that veteran producer The Advent's released this year on the label, with the lean rhythm of "Scorched" and the jacking "Planting Seeds" - a follow-up to the 1997 track "House Seed" - really standing out.
Perc - "Look What Your Love Has Done To Me" (I Hate Models Primitive remix) - (8:28) 142 BPM
Review: The eighth series in Perc Trax's remix series sees some of techno's biggest names rework the label's back catalogue. It opens with Amelie Lens delivering a thumping, big-room take on Perc's own "Look What Your Love Has Done To Me". DJ Boss goes down a linear but visceral route for his Schranz take on RVDE's "90s Hammer", while Ghost In The Machine turns Perc & Truss' "Leather & Lace" into a juggernaut banger, led by screeching riffs, looped vocal samples and a pounding kick. For a more streamlined take on peak-time techno, take a listen to Perc's own VIP take on "Look What Your Love Has Done To Me" ,while for those lovers of layered, noisy bangers, look no further than Ansome's remix of Manni Dee's "London Isn't England".
Review: With industrial techno brandishing its other cheek these days with a burgeoning cast of new producers on the scene, it's the likes of Ansome and I Hate Models that this sound is looking to. Add some heavier Italian wares and harder Australian stuff from Rvde and Tymon, and you have the summation of Perc Trax in 2019. With Ali Wells' dropping in himself with the tongue in cheek Three Tracks To Send To Your Ghost Producer EP, this compilation lifts a visceral selection of music to feature across the label this year. All menacing and with a story to tell, Perc Trax in 2019 presented a fresh and hazardous form of ballistic techno in its approach to crunching drums and new school industrial aggression. Check it here.
Review: Featuring vocals from UK electronic artist Gazelle Twin, Perc's ''Look What Your Love Has Done To Me" has gone from a vocal experiment to a certified classic and the biggest selling track in the history of his label. Originally released as part of the Bitish artist's 'Bitter Music' LP in 2017, the track has grown in support organically, allowing it time to take on a life of its own. Now in 2019 the track lives on with these killer reworks by some of the scene's biggest names. Ascendant Belgian Amelie Lens delivers a barrelling peak time perspective that lunges straight for the jugular, label regular I Hate Models delivers a typically frantic and hyperware rework sure to throw you against the wall and the man himself Perc reloads the track directly off the factory floor in pitch black and austere fashion.
Review: Ali Wells aka Perc delivers a defiant come back release that is designed to call out those famous names who have made career as recording artists despite never venturing into the studio. "Toxic NRG" is 100% Perc, with a central riff that spits out acid fury over murderous kicks and an industrial rhythm. "Driller" is even more intense, with Wells fusing gabba drums with volleys of coruscating percussion to achieve a track that's the sonic equivalent of being hit over the head with a sledgehammer. Rounding off the release is the loopy builds and drops of "Pivot", another visceral, peak-time roller that will also expose the frauds and chancers.
Review: This second set of remixes from Perc's recent album begins in stark contrast to the first series. EP02 gets under way with the frenetic, tribal groove and trance stabs of Dax J's take on "Unelected". The tempo drops again for Lucy's take on "Wax Apple". In the Italian producer's hands, it turns into a stepping rhythm shot through with mysterious textures and drones. Changing course once again is Matrixxman with his interpretation of "Rat Run". While the US producer doesn't take away any of Perc's grit and grime, he does use a nickel-plated, percussive backing track to make his remix sound like it was recorded in a Chicago warehouse.
The Thought That Counts (Head Front Panel remix) - (7:26) 133 BPM
Chatter (Hodge remix) - (5:56) 129 BPM
Exit (Pessimist remix) - (7:30) 86 BPM
I Just Can't Win (Dale Cornish remix) - (6:17) 120 BPM
Review: In this first volume of remixes, Ali Wells gathers an impressive cast to rework tracks from his Bitter Music album. First up is John Heckle's Head Front Panel project, which turns Perc's "The Thought That Counts" into an intense, dense techno groover, led by intricate riffs and tones. By contrast, Hodge's take on "Chatter" is loose and free-flowing, underpinned by massive, dubbed out drums and a rhythm that sways and swerves in all the right places. Pessimist's take on "Exit" pushes the release back towards the opaque and, in this instance, mysterious, thanks to its shadowy drones. Last but certainly not least is Dale Cornish with a superb, stuttering minimal house take on "I Just Can't Win".
Review: Bitter Music is Ali Wells's third studio album and manages the rare feat of combining experimentation with a focus on the dance floor. It means that the husky, breathy vocals and found sound ambience of "Exit" and the spooky tones of "Wax Apple" both sit next to the panel-beating techno of "Unelected" - possibly another one of Wells' political references - the eerie, rumbling drums of "Chatter" and the low slung menace of "I Just Can't Win". On other occasions, Wells articulates his ability to straddle both worlds in one arrangement, audible on the deeply disturbing shrieks of Aja Ireland over the gnarly rhythm of "Spit" or the tape dub cut up groove of "Rat Run". Ali Wells has matured as an artist but as Bitter Music shows, in the process he has lost none of his bile-laced anger.
Review: This is Perc and Truss' first collaborative release in two years, but it does not feel like they have been absent at all. "Subox" hits the listener straight between the eyes with its pounding industrial beats, shrill tones and acrid acid lines. "Badman" is less direct and shows that the pair are not afraid to experiment as a menacing bass underscores deranged tones and mysterious, dissected vocals. However, probably the biggest surprise is the title track. Couched in a standard Perc/Truss backing track is a pumping, throbbing bass that sounds like E-Dancer transposed to a European techno setting. The last time this was attempted with such a degree of success was Laurent Garnie's Sound of the Big Babou, but Perc and Truss have gone even further because listen carefully and it sounds like they have sampled the vocal from Saunderson's remake of Esser's "Forces".
Review: There's something more than a little unsettling about the cover image for Perc's latest release which finds the producer's face covered in what looks like porridge. In some ways, it's rather fitting, because the EP itself - like much of Alistair Wells' output - is similarly hard to handle. The single's final track, "Change To" - a cacophonous fusion of distortion, scattergun hits and garbled voices - sounds like his vision of the end of days. Of course, few are quite as accomplished when it comes to creating raw, bleak, intense techno, and its' these moments - particularly the industrial motifs, aggressive electronics and thumping beats of "Gruel" - that make Gob a must-have.
Yuji Kondo - "Radiate The Ocean From My Back" - (6:23) 128 BPM
Review: It may not be the most fashionable label, but there's no doubt that Perc Trax has been instrumental in championing some truly uncompromising music over the past decade. Here, owner Ali Wells continues on his mission to ignore trends with a typically abrasive selection. Truss' "Brockweir" is a hard and heavy techno banger with a grungy bass and jagged, screeching riffs blaring in constantly while Sawf's "Goves" sounds like a broken beat variant on this approach. Perc's own "Forever Your Girl" and "Dumpster" see him mine the 90s to deliver rave-sampling, stab-heavy tools - in particular, "Forever Your Girl" sounds like it sampled T99's "Anasthasia" - while Spanish imports Oscar Mulero and Exium provide the compilation with some fractured rhythmic finesse.
Review: The tenth anniversary of Perc Trax has provided its owner Ali 'Perc' Wells with the opportunity to release his first ever commercial mix. Using a lot of his own material as well as some smart selections from the label, including Factory Floor's remix of Forward Strategy Group, Wells acquits himself skillfully. However, it's this collection of unreleased material that really stands out. Veering from Happa and Truss' stomping, distorted techno and the Magnetic North-style kicks of Perc's "Hyperlink" to the frazzled broken beats of Forward Strategy Group and Mick Finesse & Pinion's tracks, it also features the cavernous acid of Drvg Cvltvre's "(I Don't Want To Die In) James Franco's House" and the shock-horror rave stabs of Sawf's "Goves". There's no doubt about it - Perc Trax is celebrating its first decade in typically raucous style.
Review: These remixes of tracks from Ali Wells' second album are fittingly intense. Tessela's take on "Take Your Body Off" sounds like it is crashing through the speakers. Coruscating riffs screech and howl over broken beats and death rattle drums are intertwined with unidentifiable squals and shrieks. Untold's take on "Bleeding Colours" is meaner and faster. At its centre is a buzzing bass, one that infiltrates and gradually takes over the slamming, high-paced techno rhythm. It feels like being strapped to the bonnet of a Formula One car as it whizzes through lap upon lap. Finally, there's Clouds' take on "Dumpster". Slower and more teased out than the other remixes, its murky bass and panel beating dums are nonetheless laden with a sense of dread that Perc's own work also contains.
Review: As the man behind the long-running Perc Trax label, Ali Wells has had a considerable part to play in shaping the landscape of UK techno. His debut album Wicker & Steel, released in 2011, was only his first full-length in a decade of producing, but the influence both it and the curation of his label had was wide ranging, prefiguring the revival for a harder, more industrial aesthetic in techno which emerged in the following years. The Power & The Glory is Wells' second album, and is a significantly more ambitious statement than its predecessor, combining his obvious appreciation of the experimental noise sound coming from the US underground with the pounding floor-focused rave bangers he's well known for. Quite simply, Wells has raised the techno bar once again.
Review: Probably the highest praise for artists of a certain dispostion is that it's impossible for their audiences to tell whether they are being serious or simply taking the piss. This kind of ambiguity is prevalent among all the great alternative artists from New Order/Joy Division, The Fall and Throbbing Gristle to Larry Levan, Regis and Shed. Perc is moving close to being part of this hallowed group and Brutality suceeds in pushing him a few steps nearer. Much of this is due to the title track and the questions it asks the listener. Are those tones at the start a sample of the TV test card or Perc fiddling with an insane frequency? Is Perc trying to reach Al Jourgensen-like levels of outlandishness wth the grungy, industrial beats and is that the sound of a torture victim's screams or just deranged, feedback noise? On "Cash 4 Gold", the questions continue, the uncertainty lingers. Is Perc satirising Britain's army of Vicki Pollards or has he presented the listener with the hopelessness and desparation of working class life in modern-day England? Certainly amid the grubby, twisted broken beats it is almost possible to smell the stale chip oil mixed with the bang of overflowing ashtrays and unwashed armpits - is it funny, tragic or just fact? Then he delivers two great contrasts: "Boy" is a visceral affair, its drums torn apart, the jarring riffs screeching in and the bass grainy and brutal. It's nasty, and disturbing, and the polar opposite of the final track, "Before I Go". Penned ostensibly as a farewell to this world and an escape from its brutality, its muffled piano sounds and beautiful but indistinct strings could be the sonic interpretation of someone slipping out of consciousness and departing this world. Then again, it could just be Ali Wells having a drunken laugh. We may never know - and that sums up the beauty of Brutality.
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